Angelina Jolie’s Khmer-language film captures the Cambodian genocide through a child’s experiential lens.
In short: Directed by Angelina Jolie and co-written with survivor Loung Ung, this 2017 biographical thriller depicts the Khmer Rouge regime from the perspective of a five-year-old girl. Eschewing traditional exposition, the film offers a raw, ground-level look at the atrocities of the Cambodian Civil War, relying on an almost entirely Cambodian cast.
Released on Netflix in September 2017, the film adapts Loung Ung’s memoir of the same name. It follows young Loung, the daughter of a Khmer National Armed Forces officer, as her family is forced out of Phnom Penh in 1975 under the guise of American bombing threats. The narrative tracks the family's disintegration as they are sent to labor camps, where they face starvation, forced labor, and the constant threat of execution for their identities or for seeking food.
The film’s power lies in its experiential approach. Rather than focusing on the political complexities of the Vietnam War or the broader Cambodian Civil War, the camera remains tethered to Loung’s limited understanding. As critic Matt Zoller Seitz noted, the film avoids forcing a child to connect complex cause-and-effect dots, instead presenting the horror as a series of immediate, lived experiences. This perspective captures the surreal terror of a world where medicine is forbidden, siblings are separated, and a child is eventually recruited to lay landmines for the regime.
Production was a deeply local effort, with principal photography occurring across Cambodia in Siem Reap, Battambang, and Phnom Penh between November 2015 and February 2016. The film features dialogue almost entirely in Khmer and was selected as Cambodia’s entry for the 90th Academy Awards. While it did not receive a nomination, its submission marked a notable moment for the Academy, testing rules regarding artistic control and nationality, as Jolie holds dual citizenship in the United States and Cambodia.
Critical reception was largely positive, with an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 72/100 score on Metacritic. Critics praised the film for its empathy and technical skill, with some calling it one of the greatest war films ever made. By focusing on the intimate, traumatic journey of one child, the film resonates as a profound exploration of childhood lost to systemic violence.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: First They Killed My Father (film)
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